Ben Roethlisberger has announced his retirement from the NFL after 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"The journey has been exhilarating, fueled by a spirit of competition," Roethlisberger said. "Yet the time has come to clean out my locker, hang up my cleats and continue to be all I can be to my wife and children. I retire from football a truly grateful man."

Roethlisberger won two Super Bowls with the Steelers and was a productive quarterback for much of his career.

Roethlisberger had issues off the field during the first half of his career. Roethlisberger had a motorcycle accident in 2006 and was twice accused of sexual assault and received a six-game suspension to start the 2010 season.

Mike Singletary says that he once vetoed a trade that would have sent Ben Roethlisberger to the San Francisco 49ers.

The former 49ers coach told The Athletic that the front office told him in 2009 that they had a deal in place with the Pittsburgh Steelers to acquire Roethlisberger, but that he declined because this was shortly after the quarterback had been accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting a woman in Lake Tahoe.

"I had been telling the team I wanted a team of character," Singletary said. “I felt I had to be true to that. But if I could do it again, I'd do it differently."

Keith Butler is retiring after seven seasons as defensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Butler has been with the Steelers organization for 19 years and took over for Dick LeBeau as defensive coordinator in 2015 after 12 seasons as the linebackers coach.

As defensive coordinator, Butler continued the organization's tradition of a dominant pass rush.

One option to replace Butler is likely Steelers senior defensive assistant and secondary coach Teryl Austin, who was hired by the organization in January 2019.

The Pittsburgh Steelers will be searching for a new starting quarterback this offseason for the first time in almost two decades.

The most likely scenario right now would see Dwayne Haskins and Mason Rudolph compete for the starting role while the Steelers also add a quarterback in the draft, according to a report.

For the first time in his 15-year head coaching career, Mike Tomlin is entering an offseason without Ben Roethlisberger as the franchise quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Roethlisberger, 39, has yet to make an official announcement, but Tomlin is "proceeding with the assumption" that the quarterback won't be playing next season.

The Steelers will undoubtedly bring in new arms to compete for the starting job, and Tomlin said he doesn't care if the fresh faces come from free agency, a trade or the 2022 NFL draft.

"All options are on the table," Tomlin said. "I enjoy working with [general manager] Kevin [Colbert] this time of year because we speak plain English. We have to improve our football team. There's two major ways you do it. You do it to free agency, and you do it through the draft. We have to look at what's available to us in the draft positionally. And we have to look at what's available to us, potentially, in free agency, positionally, and then we kind of bring those two discussions together. And it kind of gives us a path in which to go about addressing our needs."

JuJu Smith-Schuster will be a free agent once again this offseason and says he wants to re-sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Smith-Schuster was a free agent last offseason and passed on offers from the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens to remain with the Steelers.

"I've said it before and have the same stance: I'd love to be Pittsburgh for life," Smith-Schuster wrote on Twitter. "I hope we can make this happen this offseason and I want to be part of this franchise's return to glory. It's not a matter of if, but when, and I hope I'm wearing the black and gold, celebrating a Super Bowl with these fans, when it happens." 

The wide receiver caught five passes in Pittsburgh's playoff loss to Kansas City just three months after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Ben Roethlisberger didn't use the word retirement following the elimination of the Pittsburgh Steelers from the playoffs. 

Describing his emotions coming out of the game and walking off the field, Roethlisberger said, "Yeah it's tough, but I'm proud to play with these guys. God has blessed me with an ability to throw a football and has blessed me to play in the greatest city, in Pittsburgh, with the greatest fans and the greatest football team and players. And it has just been truly a blessing, and I'm so thankful to him for the opportunity that he's given me.

"Just a bunch of guys that fought for each other, that fought their butts off and just competed. It wasn't always pretty, but there are a lot of games that we found a way. I'm so proud of this group of men and the way they fight for each other, for the black and gold, for our fans. It's just been an honor to play with them."

Roethlisberger, who will turn 40 on March 2, has not formally announced his retirement from the league. But he had hinted as much even before the Steelers' final home game of the regular season in Week 17 when he said "all signs are pointing to this could be it.'' 

Kevin Colbert is expected to retire as general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers after the 2022 NFL draft.

Colbert's contract runs through the draft and has told people he intends to stay on the job until then.

Colbert has acknowledged that it is likely his last season and the expectation is he'll retire sooner rather than later after the draft.

Colbert has run personnel for the Steelers since 2000, winning two Super Bowls.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have activated JuJu Smith-Schuster for Sunday's playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Smith-Schuster underwent shoulder surgery after the injury and has been sidelined for the past 14 weeks. He was designated to return from IR on Thursday and practiced with the team Thursday and Friday.

"God answered my prayers [and] I've recovered from my season-ending shoulder injury earlier than expected," Smith-Schuster tweeted Saturday afternoon. "I can't believe I get another chance to take the field with this team and play in a playoff game to keep our season alive."

Ben Roethlisberger ranks fifth in all-time playoff passing yards heading into this postseason.

Roethlisberger has 5,757 yards in his playoff career and should pass two legends at some point during Sunday night's game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Joe Montana is in fourth place all-time with 5,772 and Brett Favre is in third with 5,855.

The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback needs only 99 yards to move into third-place all-time.